You have to believe the owners will eventually gravitate toward accepting 50-50 as well, but right now the hardliners are simply not willing to go there. Those hardliners, we presume, include commissioner Gary Bettman and the owners whose teams are better off with no games being played than they would be if the season were a go.

Owners in bad markets (we’d put money on places like Florida, Tampa, Dallas, Columbus, Nashville, Phoenix and Carolina) have reportedly hijacked this entire process and are not willing to entertain a moderate deal.

At the same time, there are plenty of owners who want to get a deal done and are willing to come to a compromise, but at this point it seems their voices are not being heard.

... And the answer to how to settle this thing is with a new agreement neither side is going to like all that much.

Step 1: Let the players keep the $1.87-billion they earned last season – and not a penny more.

The union’s offer comes with a 2 per cent raise in Year 1, but it’s become clear in negotiations that that’s just not going to fly.

And the league wants players to take a big pay cut via escrow next season that won’t work either.

The players have dug in on this one, and it’s really not too much to ask in Year 1 of the deal. If NHL revenues grow at 6.3 per cent (which is roughly what they’ve averaged the last eight years minus the effects of the Canadian dollar), that $1.87-billion will drop the players’ share to 53.6 per cent.

And it’ll slowly trail down from there.

Step 2: Allow the players small raises of 3 per cent annually between Years 2 and 5. That’s salary growth that should easily be outstripped by revenue growth.

Basically what that means is that if revenues grow at 6.3 per cent a year, the players’ share would decline from 53.6 per cent to 52.0, 50.4, 48.8 and 47.3 over the first five years of the agreement.

National Hockey League deputy commissioner Bill Daly is hopeful collective bargaining with the NHL Players’ Association will resume this week, with the main executives from both sides expected to be in Toronto.

“No bargaining sessions scheduled,” Daly said Monday. “But we have kept in close contact and, obviously, it’s fair to say both sides are working. But they’re working internally right now.”...

“Obviously, we’ve got to talk before you can get a deal ” Daly said. “So I think it’s important to get the talks going again. But you also have to have something to say — and I think it’s fair to say we feel like we need to hear from the players’ association in a meaningful way, because I don’t think they’ve really moved off of their initial proposal, which was made more than a month ago.”

Detroit Red Wings forward Danny Cleary warned today that the lockout that is threatening the start of the NHL season might linger on and on.

"I think people don't think it can go a year," Cleary said after several Wings held an independent skate at Troy Sports Center. "As players, we think it can. Maybe longer."...

"Just trying to be realistic," Cleary said. "I think the league is waiting for us to make the move, and we're waiting for them to move. So someone has to move. And I don't see it coming from our end. We've given them a couple of good options that they can work with, and they, obviously, feel it's not good enough.

"We're at a stalemate, I guess you can say. We're stuck in the middle right now."

from Liz Mullen and Christopher Botta of SportsBusiness Journal at the Sporting News,

During the NHL lockout, NHL Players’ Association Executive Director Don Fehr is working to keep players unified, involved and informed about developments through tried and true methods that he has used for decades, but the union also is using new technology, including an app it created for players’ mobile devices.

The NHLPA developed the mobile app with Kanata, Ontario-based Vayyoo, a mobile application and solutions company for businesses. It was initiated four months ago.

“We launched the mobile app because we know all the players have smartphones,” said NHLPA spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon. “The nice thing about the app is we can reach guys wherever they are. Nothing beats face to face, but being able to get information to players in a quick and effective manner is obviously a positive for the association.”